Using Children's Literature To Motivate Teen Parents To Read to Their Children.

Johnson, Helen W. Ginger

This guide describes the curriculum for the Children's Literature Course at the New Futures School, a high school for pregnant and parenting teens. In addition to teaching the students about good literature which is written for children, one of the main objectives of the course is to convince teen parents of the importance of reading aloud to their children. Each week students read 10 children's books and write a critical review for each book. They also read children's magazines and report on different magazine features. Reviews of magazine articles written about reading aloud to children are discussed in class. Teen parents learn to do crafts with young children and take field trips of interest to young children. At the beginning of each semester, a self-awareness exercise is shared with class members; for example, a student might asssemble a personality quilt square, a collage, or a coat-of-arms. Students create two children's books during the semester by following course guidelines for creating picture books, zip-lock baggy books, cloth or texture books, or peek-a-boo books. Book-making guidelines and instructions for some crafts are provided in the report, as is a brief comparison of the cooking process and the writing process. (RJC)